The Toad's Burrow

      I understand the criticisms of this season of Peaky Blinders  after all so many characters get shoved to the side in order to create a cohesive narrative, I mean most characters end up doing nothing and it becomes less character driven and more event driven. However, under the extraordinary circumstances that was the death of actress Helen McRory, I understand the sudden shift from what made Peaky Blinders  so successful in the first place. The reality is Polly was such an integral character, a fact that was proven since the entire season had to become scrapped after her death, and therefore it is important to look at this season with a more optimistic lens than usual.     Now I know, typically I'm very critical of this show in my reviews, but that's for good reason, because the reality is Peaky Blinders is an excellent show, and frankly its much more interesting for me to point out what has changed rather than report back and say that a sho...

      I would be lying if I said that I expected Only Murders in the Building  to live up to the hype it had built in the first season. After all, making two good seasons of a TV show that is about a fake murder podcast sounds difficult to pull off, like catching lightning in a bottle twice. Luckily, the showrunners seemed to have figure out what worked last time around, and have honed in on making sure that viewers were given a season that didn't feel too similar to the last to prevent a sophomore slump.     To be frank I was quite scared when this season first started, I mean some of the new characters focused on/introduced are great, while others are absolutely awful. I mean Cara Delevingne and Amy Schumer single handedly almost ruined my expectations for the rest of the season, because they both seemed to be absolutely terrible in any scenes they were in. Luckily for viewers, their screen time tapers off significantly, and for the better since both...

      I'm starting to get the feeling that Peaky Blinders  is suffering from what every great TV show eventually suffers from, stretching itself too thin. Its not its own fault that the show has managed to sow seeds of interest in every character, but its starting to get a bit crowded, and then characters must be killed in order to allow the most bountiful seeds to sprout. While necessary, it still always feels disappointing to some extent, as viewers begin to question which      Take for example Aberama Gold, a character who was promoted to series mainstay this season, he dies in such a fashion that leaves you questioning, is that it? I mean his son died, and he was about to be accepted into the family, but then he is simply murdered off for the sake of making the stakes against Tommy feel even higher. Personally, I would have liked to see more of what he could have offered, although I am biased towards the former Game of Thrones actor, as he was phen...

       I'd be lying if I said this season wasn't one of my favourites because while the Economic League was cool, I enjoyed Luca Changretta significantly more. I think out of all the villains showcased in the show he was my favourite, because it felt like he actually had some bite to his bark and he really made me question if Tommy was out of his league(spoiler alert: he was not). While I do think some of the concepts in this season felt underutilized, overall I thought this season did a great job of making it feel consequential.     Since it happens so early in the season, I feel it is important to address the death of John Shelby, who was one of my favourite characters in the show. I'm going to be honest with you, I was so disappointed he died, as I felt he had more to bring to the show, and they had been focusing on Arthur for quite some time(in their defense, I really enjoyed Arthur this season). I mean John basically developed guilt over killing innoce...

      As someone who became a theatre kid at a fairly late age, I had always heard of A Streetcar Named Desire, and understood that both it, and by extension Tennessee Williams, had some important role in the history of theatre. Specifically, I first remember hearing it in the Panic! At the Disco song, Memories, and since then I began to grow this idea that perhaps it was a love story, an overall sad one, but one for the ages, and with a cute name to boot. Sadly, or perhaps happily depending on your point of view, I have to report that my assumptions were wrong, and I couldn't have been more impressed by this play if it tried.     Personally, as someone who had to read a lot of plays during high school I think something that many plays lacked was the ability to be read as a play rather than performed. Like if one were to ask high school students what they enjoyed least, it would be Shakespeare, and for good reason, as it was meant to be performed, and without ma...

      To address the title of this article, I have to preface by saying that I don't think that the Peaky Blinders  gang is actually one filled with saints, I mean they are British gangsters, and one does not exactly crawl out of poverty by being the nicest bloke on the block. However, in my eyes, the most notable change was Thomas Shelby's transition into someone who put family first, to someone who was willing to gamble them away. Like, you can't seriously tell me that by the end of season 3, people were rooting for the Shelby's other than the fact that they were technically the "lesser evil" when compared to the economic league.     In fact, dare I say it, I'm starting to feel shades of Breaking Bad  when watching Peaky Blinders  and I don't make this comparison lightly. It's sort of how in Breaking Bad , fans root for Walter not because he is someone who uplifts his family, but rather because its entertaining to watch his slow descent into bec...